Korea takes weightlifting gold and silver on final day of Asiad

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Published: 07 Oct. 2023, 22:03 Updated: 02 Jan. 2024, 15:09

Korea takes weightlifting gold and silver on final day of Asiad

Korean weightlifter Park Hye-jeong competes during the women's 87-kilogram divison at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Xiaoshan Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Saturday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Korean weightlifters won two medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Saturday, with Park Hye-jeong winning gold and Son Young-hee claiming silver in the same event to end the Asiad with a total of six medals in the sport.

Korea take silver and bronze in women's 87-kilogram weightlifting

Park and Son both competed in the women’s +87-kilogram division at Xiaoshan Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.

Park managed 125 points in the snatch discipline and 169 in the clean and jerk discipline for a total score of 294 to win Korea’s first gold in the sport at this year’s Asiad.

The gold was also Korea’s first Asiad gold in weightlifting since 2010, when former weightlifter Jang Mi-ran — the current second vice minister of sports — won the women’s 75-kilogram division.

Son’s total score of 283 — 124 in the snatch and 159 in the clean and jerk — earned her silver, surpassing bronze-medalist Chaidee Duangaksorn of Thailand by eight points.

In weightlifting, final points are calculated by adding the best scores from the “snatch” and “clean and jerk” categories. The snatch is completed in one swift motion while the clean and jerk has two steps: Cleaning the barbell by bringing it to the chest and then lifting it above the head. Each athlete has three attempts at either method.

Saturday’s weightlifting contests wrapped up the Asiad’s weightlifting schedule.

Korea ended with six medals — one gold, two silver and three bronze — in the sport, surpassing the amount of medals at the 2018 tournament with five.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN AND MARY YANG [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]